As West Ham look ahead to a crucial summer, the scale of the task facing Graham Potter is becoming clear. While signs of progress were visible during his first season in charge, the squad needs reshaping if the Hammers are to move beyond mid-table ambitions.
From defensive reinforcements to creative midfield depth, there are multiple areas demanding attention.
From defensive reinforcements to creative midfield depth, there are multiple areas demanding attention.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00As West Ham look ahead to a crucial summer, the scale of the task facing Graham Potter
00:08is becoming clear. While signs of progress were visible during his first half spell in charge,
00:15the squad needs reshaping if the Hammers are to move beyond mid-table ambitions.
00:22From defensive reinforcements to creative midfield depth, there are multiple areas demanding
00:28attention. Potter's philosophy requires intelligent, technical, adept players and this window is his
00:35chance to bring more of them through the door. But how far can West Ham go with the resources
00:42available and how much patience will be granted for the project to mature? It's a balancing act
00:49between evolution and expectation. We caught up with James Jones of London World to assess
00:57what's on the to-do list this summer and what must change for West Ham to take the meaningful
01:03steps forward.
01:06Yeah, and just on Lucas Paquette, I mean, obviously, he's maybe not shown his out-and-out best this
01:11season for West Ham, but the performance away at Liverpool, he was, you know, fairly remarkable
01:16even Arnie Schlotz said after the game how, you know, he's come over from Dutch football
01:21and he's realised how tough the Premier League is because, you know, teams linger around the
01:26bottom half of the table have these superstars still within their ranks. I mean, it's a big compliment
01:31from the manager who's going to go on to win the Premier League title. Just how important is Paquette
01:37when he is at his best? And, you know, it's obviously not been shown as much as it could have been
01:42this season, but surely he's a player that they really want to make sure they keep in the summer
01:46and can take West Ham forward next season.
01:50Yeah, well, obviously, Lucas Paquette's future is still a little bit up in the air. There are a lot of
01:55question marks over what's going to happen with Lucas Paquette off the pitch. His case with the FA has been
02:02adjourned until the end of the season, so we don't really know. If it comes out positively, then the club will
02:09no doubt be looking, ideally, be hoping to keep him. It's clear that Graham Potter likes him and he
02:16enjoys playing under Graham Potter. You know, he's been, he's played his best football since Graham Potter
02:21came into the team and his best performance this season was arguably against Liverpool at Anfield
02:25last weekend, where particularly in the second half, he ran the show. And yes, people, you know,
02:31many were pointing at his attempts to try and buy a free kick in the build-up to, in the lead-up
02:37to Liverpool's corner that got them the winner. But that's Paquette. He does things like that. We
02:41know he's done that for the last three years. He has moments like that where he tries to
02:46do something a bit silly or try and win a free kick. But 90% of the time, when he's on his day,
02:53he's one of the best players on the pitch. You know, he is, there's a reason why Manchester City
02:56wanted to pay 85 million pounds for him before everything came out about his spot-fixing allegations.
03:02So, he is a very, very important player for West Ham, a very important player for Graham Potter.
03:08And if we can keep him in that kind of form that we saw against Liverpool for the rest of the season,
03:11then he'll be a huge boost for us as we try and pick up as many points as possible, just to take a
03:16little bit of good feeling and a little bit of good positivity into the summer when that rebuild happens.
03:22If he does leave, then, you know, I think we can, he's had a fantastic three years at West Ham United.
03:30He was the guy that set up Jarrod Bowen in the Conference League final in the last minute to win us that trophy.
03:35So, West Ham fans love him. He's a frustrating player at times, but we know that on his day,
03:44and he was on his day against Liverpool last weekend, he's a fantastic footballer and an incredibly
03:49important player in this squad. So, it'll be interesting to see what happens with his case,
03:54with the FA. But it does make me wonder, and this is pure just in my opinion, that perhaps
04:02we might be looking at a more positive outcome on that given the form that he's in at the moment.
04:08He's had a lot of distractions this season, but it didn't seem like he had any distractions on Sunday.
04:12So, hopefully that's a good sign that we've got some positive news coming in May.
04:15But we'll see, we'll see. But at the moment, we just want to keep him, keep him in form,
04:21keep him playing like that, and hopefully it will help us start picking up some results.
04:26So, hopefully, if we can get him back to his very best between now and the end of the season, at least,
04:31then, you know, that's incredibly important. But no doubt, regardless of his form this year,
04:37regardless of his lack of output, his lack of numbers, there will be no doubt a lot of interest in him this summer.